1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a substrate processing apparatus and a substrate processing method, which are configured to process a substrate while rotating the substrate, with a plate surface thereof being oriented substantially along a horizontal direction. In addition, the present invention relates to a program storage medium storing a program for performing the substrate processing method configured to process a substrate while rotating the substrate, with a plate surface thereof being oriented substantially along a horizontal direction.
2. Description of Related Art
As disclosed in JP6-097137A, for example, there has been conventionally, generally known a substrate processing apparatus and a substrate processing method that process a substrate while rotating the substrate, with the substrate being held such that a plate surface thereof is oriented along a horizontal direction. In such a process, it is necessary to rotatably hold a substrate in the processing apparatus. In particular, when there is processed a discoid substrate, such as a semiconductor wafer (hereinafter simply referred to also as “wafer”), which is likely to flutter (jump) during being rotated because of its thin plate-like shape and is likely to slide (shift) with respect to the processing apparatus during being rotated because of its substantially circular outer contour, the substrate is required to be stably held.
In many instances, a process, which includes loading of the substrate into the processing apparatus and unloading of the substrate from the processing apparatus, to a substrate with the use of a substrate processing apparatus is automatically performed. Thus, it is necessary not only to examine (check) whether the processing apparatus itself works normally or not, but also examine (check) a state of a substrate, i.e., whether a substrate to be processed is brought into the apparatus or not, whether a support position of the substrate is normal or not, and whether a holding state of the substrate is normal or not. Particularly when there is processed a substrate, such as a semiconductor wafer, which is likely to flutter (jump) because of its thin plate-like shape and is likely to slide (shift) during being rotated with respect to a processing apparatus because of its discoid shape, it is required to monitor a state of the substrate with a high precision.